DOING IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE TO UNDERGROUND WATER TABLE

Coastweek.com

No one in the authority has moved an inch
to find a solution to the inevitable crisis

It was very interesting to see the picture of mount Kilimanjaro in today\'s edition of the Coastweek but hardly surprising.

The melting of the ice cap has been on the cards for a pretty long time - as highlighted this in my letter of November 2007.

The amazing thing is that no one in the authority has moved an inch to find a solution to the inevitable crisis.

The fact that population is set to rise against the backdrop of the dwindling water supply makes a really scary scenario.

What many people do not know is that scientists have also predicted that the average mean temperatures of Mombasa and its envious is set to rise between two and three degrees in the next five to seven years and that will make a massive impact on our water supply and needs.

The easy fix would be to sink a whole lot of boreholes but the fact is that we are doing irreversible damage to the underground water table which, on the long run, is going to make us pay dearly akin Karua Forest .

Unless we do not come up with a permanent fix to this problem, we shall have a disaster on our hands in the next five or six years and that\'s not very far off.

There are some very practical solutions to this problem but somebody up there must have the iron will to implement them.

The obvious choice and the one I have been advocating for a long time is the commissioning of a desalination plant.

This would a permanent solution to our problems unless the Indian Ocean dries up.

The other ways would be rain water harvestation and conservation.

It would also help if some young innovators would find a way to re-direct water we use for bathing, washing hands, brushing, washing cloth and utensils to flush toilets.

With an average family of four visiting the toilet at least three times a day would mean 12 flushes of five litres, which makes it a saving of 60 litres a day.

If you multiply it by the population of Mombasa , we are talking of a massive saving of over four million litres of water a day.

Secondly, there has been a lot of buzz about the decongestion of traffic in Mombasa and a lot of good suggestions specially the one about a tram line in the middle of the town.

While these are long term and costly ways to deal with the issue, there are a couple of quick fixes that can be implemented to ease this problem.

The primary problem is on the Nyali Bridge and Digo Road coming into town in the mornings and the other way around in the evenings.

The easiest way to overcome this would be to make Digo road into a one way traffic zone from 7.00 a.m. to 10.00 a.m. from the bridge to Moi Avenue round about and the other way from 4.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.

There is hardly any traffic going the opposite ways during those time and those can be diverted to use Moi Avenue , turning towards the station on to Jaila Baridi finally to Saba Saba traffic lights.

At the same times, the Nyali Bridge road can be turned into a 3-lane one-way traffic at using one of the lanes of the other side thereby opening up one more lane.

The major bottleneck is the Kengeleni turnoff going towards Cinemax.

Here the Matutus are the main culprits together with the users of Kogowea Market.

It would be prudent to ban Matatus from stopping for a stretch of 500 meters from that junction and it would also help if the entrance to Kongowea Market could be relocated to somewhere on the main Mombasa Malindi road.

These changes can be implemented quite quickly and with a little discipline would go a great deal towards decommissioning of traffic.

The other story which is of interest is the levy of K. shs. 500 per day per room imposed by the authorities on hotels in Mombasa.

It is my humble opinion that there is a need for a really deep re-think of this policy.

What many people do not realize that this cow is being milked to the limit already and every additional penny levied would be like what many people refer to as \"sucking it dry\".

Most of the hotels are reeling in the wake of massive power bills and low occupancy.

I was quite shocked when a manager of a small hotel complex informed me that they were paying a massive 1.2 million shillings a month only on power.

This is one of the reasons why a lot of hotels are behind on their salaries and other payments.

If you add roughly half a million shillings per month (for a thirty bedroom hotel) it could be akin to the final straw on the camels back.

Would it not be better not to kill the goose that is laying golden eggs even if the eggs are coming in a bit slow these days.

Paresh Morjari, Mombasa .

pmail@mitsuminet.com

Only people who have got an understanding of their actions and their impact on to the environment are prepared and willing to change their doings.
Unless people have no clue nothing is going to change.

Massive campaigns must start rather today than tomorrow to educate people and the things the MUST chnage rapido!

It must be reached a point when people watch and observe others and each and every human being tries its best to help change for the better and pinpoint others who destroy our common environment.

We won't come arou8nd of really punishing people for water waste, inappropriate waste management etc.

But I doubt that will take place within the next 10 years. But beyond that period of time it might be too late to push any return button.

Rgerettably the politicians who are responsible for NOT ACTING can leave a destroyed nation on private plane which manouevers them straight into paradise - which has been bought by money these politicians have taken out of their former country. They for sure won't suffer. Their people pay the prize.

Loks like the Coast area has a problem to sort out; which to be honest has always been there. At the end of the day it is all due to mis management - and the answer in Kenya to most is lets just take the money from the tourists. Add a bed tax, room tax, tax per head - etc etc. That is not the issue and sooner or later even the political powers that control this will have less money in their pockets as there will come a time where enough is enough.
I am Kenyan born and Kenya will always have a place in my heart however over the past few years I have really started to think - that there are more places in Africa that do not MILK (I would use harder words in English...) the tourists as much as what the various Kenyan organisations and governments have implemented.
So? Why not start seeing other countries where one feels like a guest?
Kenya had the reputation of being a country where the guests were welcome.

Very famous songs have been written and copied by world famous artists on how Kenya welcomes the tourism market. The good old days....

Now - the holiday starts off with a nice little 50.00 Euro per person tax slapped onto the passport even before you have entered the country....